The Sea-bell (or Frodo's Dreme) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Guinevere · 01-21-2003, 03:26 PM

Yes, I agree with you, littlemanpoet! I think you hit the nail on the head.

Btw, in the preface to "The adventures of Tom Bombadil", Tolkien wrote about "The Sea-Bell" :

"Nr15, certainly of Hobbit origin, is an exception. It is the latest piece and belongs to the Fourth Age; but it is included here, because a hand has scrawled at its head "Frodos Dreme". That is remarkable, and though the piece ist most unlikely to have been written by Frodo himself, the title shows that it was associated with the dark and despairing dreams which visited him in March and October during his last three years. But there were certainly other traditions, concerning Hobbits that were taken by the "wandering-madness", and if they ever returned, were afterwards queer and uncommunicable. The thought of the sea was ever-present in the background of hobbit imagination; but fear of it and distrust of all Elvish lore, was the prevailing mood in the Shire at the end of the Third Age, and that mood was certainly not entirely dispelled by the events and changes with which that age ended."

01-21-2003, 03:26 PM	#24
Guinevere Banshee of Camelot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Switzerland Posts: 5,830	Yes, I agree with you, littlemanpoet! I think you hit the nail on the head. Btw, in the preface to "The adventures of Tom Bombadil", Tolkien wrote about "The Sea-Bell" : "Nr15, certainly of Hobbit origin, is an exception. It is the latest piece and belongs to the Fourth Age; but it is included here, because a hand has scrawled at its head "Frodos Dreme". That is remarkable, and though the piece ist most unlikely to have been written by Frodo himself, the title shows that it was associated with the dark and despairing dreams which visited him in March and October during his last three years. But there were certainly other traditions, concerning Hobbits that were taken by the "wandering-madness", and if they ever returned, were afterwards queer and uncommunicable. The thought of the sea was ever-present in the background of hobbit imagination; but fear of it and distrust of all Elvish lore, was the prevailing mood in the Shire at the end of the Third Age, and that mood was certainly not entirely dispelled by the events and changes with which that age ended." __________________ Yes! "wish-fulfilment dreams" we spin to cheat our timid hearts, and ugly Fact defeat!